…as witnesses admit transmitting election results to INEC server
By Samuel Fasua
No fewer than fresh 6,806 exhibits have so far been tendered by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, where the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party is challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.
Fresh documents numbering 6, 806, mainly election result sheets from Kano and Zamfara states, were tendered at the resume hearing over the weekend, during which the APC was represented by its National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and the PDP by its publicity secretary, Mr. Kola Olagbondiyan.
At the resumption of hearing Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) led the petitioner’s legal team; Mr. Yusus Ustaz Usman (SAN) led INEC’s, while Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) led President Muhammadu Buhari’s legal team. Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) also led the APC legal team.
According to a statement by Mr. Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media spokesman, six key witnesses testified for his principal and the PDP, to substantiate their claims against Buhari’s election.
Two of the witnesses, according to him, are: Ijeoma Peter Obi, an ICT expert, and Adejuyitan Ebenezer Olalekan, who testified that they transmitted election results from polling units to the INEC server during the presidential election result collation.
Obi confirmed that he was trained by INEC as a Registration Area Technician (RAT) and shortlisted by INEC for the purpose of election result transmission in the February 23, 2019 presidential poll.
Olalekan was also emphatic on how INEC Server looked like. He told the tribunal that the server was automatic and embedded in the smart card reader used by INEC for the poll.
He claimed he personally transmitted several results to the server through a sort code provided by INEC, adding that the server was connected to the Smart Card Readers of INEC.
Others who testified for the petitioners are Alhaji Buba Galadima, Adedokun Afeez Adeoye, Mohammed Usman Tata and Mustapha Bello, who also corroborated the use of server by INEC for election results’ collation.
They informed the tribunal on the irregularities they witnessed on the Election Day, especially on the harassment, intimidation and threats to PDP agents during falsification of election result.
Drama, however, started when President Buhari’s team objected to the admission of his form, CF001, which is said to contain his personal data he submitted to the INEC, to secure clearance for the February 23, presidential election.
Buhari’s objection against the said document was announced by his lead counsel, Chief Olanipekun.
Olanipekun, while objecting to the admission of the form, however, said that his reason would be made public at the address stage.
Atiku and the PDP had tendered Buhari’s form as part of efforts to establish their petition against the President, regarding his qualification for the last presidential election.
Apart from the form, Atiku also tendered the final results of the election signed by Professor Yakubu Mahmood, which the tribunal admitted as an exhibit.
Also tendered and admitted as exhibits were documents containing the total number of voters in the INEC register and the number of collected permanent voters’ card for the elections.
Atiku’s lead counsel, Dr. Uzoukwu, also tendered six newspaper publications and 10 press statements issued by the INEC in respect of the election.
The newspapers tendered are: Thisday, Daily Trust, Tribune, Sunday Tribune and Vanguard.
Other documents numbering 6, 806 mainly election result sheets from the Kano and Zamfara states were also tendered and admitted by the tribunal.
Also, Atiku and the PDP at the weekend commenced calling of witnesses to testify for them in their allegations of election malpractices, corruption, irregularities and violence against the conduct of election that produced Buhari as President.
